Manny Pacquiao is within a fight or two of the contest his children and the rest of boxing want more than any other: a showdown with the incarcerated Floyd Mayweather Jr.

While Mayweather, who went inside last week, serves out that slice of his 90-day sentence the Nevada authorities see fit for his domestic violence offence, Pacquaio holds out to him the vinegar-soaked sponge, the possibility of finally sharing a ring.

"That's what the fans want to see and even my kids request me to fight him before I retire," he says. Well, a God-fearing convert from gambling and alcohol such as Pacquaio should know better than to dice with fate.

Before they sit down to resume their squabble over contracts, performance-enhancing drugs and all-round bragging rights, the Filipino has a gruelling assignment in Las Vegas on Saturday night, against the rock-like Timothy Bradley, a hungry, unbeaten, almost unnaturally fit young aspirant from California convinced he can upset the great man. He can, but I doubt he will.

Bradley is best remembered in the UK for dismantling Junior Witter in 2008, when he took home his WBC light-welterweight title, and has grown in stature since. In 2009, he outpointed Lamont Peterson – Amir Khan's recent, now disgraced, conqueror – and his last fight was in December, an eighth-round stoppage of the once-fine Cuban Joel Casamayor in defence of the WBO welterweight title, which is at stake again.

Still, there is a predictability about Bradley's boxing that an intuitive fighter such as Pacquiao will seize on. Certainly Khan, who has been training alongside him, thinks so – although he predicts a long rather than sensational fight.

"I'm always going to back my training partner in this fight because he's been in with better competition and reigned for such a long time," said Khan, who is preparing for his return to the ring next month against the unbeaten Danny Garcia.

"But it's going to be a tough fight. I don't think Manny will knock him out. I feel it's going to go the distance because there's no doubt Bradley will come to fight. Seeing him train on HBO's 24/7, he seems focused and confident.

"Manny's not performed at his best in his last few fights, so that might be on Bradley's side. No matter what, it's going to be one of those tough and crazy fights that boxing fans want to see."

But, it has to be said, boxing does not want to see its golden goose plucked. If it goes the distance, Pacquiao might again benefit from any muddled thinking by the officials, as he did last time out against Juan Manuel Márquez.